Crucial training has been taking place at community hospitals, on rehabilitation wards and at dental practices, in a bid to help colleagues at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust to get it done.
With the amount of colleagues who were up-to-date with their level four moving and handling training 10 per cent below the 90 per cent trust target, the trust knew things had to be done differently and holding training at more convenient venues was just one change which has been made.
The project team has also:
• Set up an automatic alert to inform colleagues whose training is out of date, that there are spare places on upcoming courses
• Removed a barrier which meant colleagues could only do the face-to-face training if all of their e-learning had been completed first
• Held training sessions on wards at community hospitals, with these only open to those who work at that particular site
• Recruited a new trainer.
Angela Roger, Eileen Brasington, Kimberly Sargent and Collette Partridge, from the trust's Education and Workforce Development Team, were behind the work.
Moving and Handling Lead Angela said: “This training is annual, mandatory training and is targeted to our colleagues who have regular contact with patients that may require physical or verbal guidance to move. Some colleagues are not up to date with best practice and their patients could be at risk of poor moving and handling techniques, which can lead to injury of either party.
“We started the project with a survey asking colleagues questions about why they did not book or attend training and although response rate was low, we were able to identify themes that staff were traveling too far, time and workload and that they had difficulty co-ordinating e-learning and face to face sessions when booking. To resolve this, we changed how this session could be booked on TAPS.
“We added more venues including Westbrook in Margate, Westview in Tenterden and Faversham Cottage Hospital and we are adding more, following a discussion with senior managers and matrons who agreed to support the training on these sites.
“With training on the wards, attendance was better and the learning more tailored to what colleagues required. Also, they felt comfortable to chat about concerns related to their own workplace and we have been able to do additional work on accessing equipment or addressing safety concerns on these sites.
“Our onsite training has also been very successful for our dental teams, who have different handling environments and training needs. We have completed training at all Kent and London dental surgeries and this is ongoing to meet the specific needs of this group.”
Next, the results of the quality improvement project are to be shared with the divisions with the highest levels of non-compliance, to remind them of the changes which have been made. The project team is continuing to monitor the impact of community hospital specific sessions and to see if these improve completion rates.
You can read and download the project report HERE